Xi Shengnan is still alive.
This sentence completely refreshed everyone's understanding.
"Shengnan?!" Lu Heng reacted the most strongly. "Isn't this photo supposed to be taken 16 hours later? Shengnan had an accident last night... why is her image appearing 16 hours later?!" Lu
Heng was so excited that he kept shaking Cao Youning beside him. Cao
Youning: "I don't understand. Boss Mu said that it seems to be another timeline."
"But... another timeline has no pattern at all, it's too chaotic!" Lu Heng looked at the dark corners of the room, which appeared even darker because of the light from the fluorite.
"Dr. Qin just examined Mai Peng's tonsils and believes that Mai Peng's cold is progressing in reverse," Shao Ling analyzed from the side. "If our timeline is progressing in reverse, then the other timeline is progressing in forward order? In that other timeline, Xi Shengnan is still alive? But here's the problem: in our timeline, Xi Shengnan was also alive yesterday. Are the Xi Shengnans living in these two timelines the same person?
"If they are the same person, the Xi Shengnan in our timeline never seems to have the state shown in the photo—lying on a bed in the dark, with a man sitting on the bed not far away. "
Then if they are not the same person, who is the other Xi Shengnan?
"The photo we just saw from a few days ago, Wei Dong, Luo Yi, Mu He, and Hao Wen are all in it. Who are they? Do they all have another body and another soul?"
Shao Ling ended these questions, although he saw some glimmers of light in the confusion, it was not enough to illuminate the answer.
"There are no two Xi Shengnans, nor two Wei Dongs. No matter how the timelines twist, these people are still themselves. " "Fang Fei suddenly spoke.
Xin Chun lay beside Fang Fei, staring at her with bright eyes, seemingly mesmerized.
"Besides the mask, another symbol of a witch is the bracelet. Today, I heard that young witch say: the bracelet is round, and everything is bound to this circle. So I think the so-called timeline is probably also circular." Fang Fei stroked the clay bracelet on her wrist as she spoke slowly.
Shao Ling drew a circle in the air, seemingly understanding, yet even more bewildered: "The 'twin' concept that Fang Fei mentioned today is similar to what Luo Yi mentioned about 'being able to see another self after death.' There are two timelines in this world, each with its own protagonist. Although they cannot see each other, their actions in life will affect the other self."
"I think it makes a lot of sense. This explains my cold. It must be that the 'me' in the other timeline caught a cold for some reason, which affected me now. But because our timeline is reversed, my cold is exhibiting a strange reversed state." "Mai Peng also tried to analyze.
Fang Fei said, "Today, the young witch from the Fluorite Tribe mentioned the issue of lifespan. It seems that every witch's lifespan is calculated on the day they become a witch, and witches seem to have very long lifespans. The young witch said that she was 'born from the White Fish to the Earth Egg'. Although I didn't quite understand, it felt like a very long period of time."
"White Fish? Could it be related to the white fish that the fat uncle gave me?" Luo Yi interjected.
Mu Yiran looked at Fang Fei: "Could you briefly summarize what that witch said? White Fish and Earth Egg, although I didn't quite understand, they seemed like very key words."
Today's time was very rushed. After Fang Fei returned from outside, she only said a few words before everyone started looking at the negative on the wall, and there wasn't time for a deeper discussion.
Fang Fei recalled the girl's words: "She said that her lifespan was very long, from the White Fish to the Earth Egg." She added that her other self must have endured many hardships to remain carefree as she is today, but sadly, she will never see that other self.
Hearing this, Mu Yiran fell into deep thought.
Cao Youning couldn't help but yawn: "I'm so sleepy I can barely keep my eyes open. Why don't we lie down on the bed and continue talking?"
Du Lingyu: "Seeing the bed reminds me of the scene in the photos, and I'm almost afraid to sleep on it."
"It's so cold, we can't possibly sleep on the floor," Wei Dong thought for a moment. "How about this? The photos showed us huddled together sleeping, right? Later, someone left a spot where Lu Heng was, and for some reason, it's making everyone uneasy. If you ask me, why don't we break this pattern now and sleep out of order in the photos!"
"We can't even see who's next to whom in the photos, how can we break the order?" "Du Lingyu said.
"It's simple. Aren't the people in the photos all close together? We'll just make sure no one is close to anyone else. Anyway, the bed is big enough. We'll just deliberately leave a space between each person. We'll just not do what will happen in the future!" Wei Dong now hated the painting to the core.
Du Lingyu shook her head: "I don't think that no matter how we avoid it, we can't affect the other timeline. But it seems that the timeline that determines our life and death is that one."
"That's not necessarily true. We've only seen their influence on us now. Maybe we're influencing them too!" Wei Dong was very unconvinced. "Anyway, I'm planning to stay away from Ke'er and Luo Bo tonight!"
Luo Yi also yawned: "Are we going to look at other photos later? We didn't zoom in on those photos of the white fish before."
A snoring sound filled the air; Cao Youning had actually fallen asleep on the bed.
Qin Ci glanced at the incense burning time: "If we calculate from midnight when the lights are lit, it's already 6 o'clock. There's still half an hour until the first photo is taken at 6:30." The
light screen on the wall was becoming increasingly blurry, and the colors were growing dimmer.
"That's strange, why isn't this fluorite as bright anymore?" Wei Dong was very puzzled.
"This kind of stone is probably like Xin Chun's eyes; it absorbs light during the day and saves it for illumination at night. It probably only lasts for two or three hours, and the light gradually weakens as time goes on," Qin Ci analyzed.
"If only I had finished looking at all these rolls of film earlier, now I can't even see them clearly," Wei Dong said, somewhat disappointed.
Luo Yu yawned again: "I really can't stay awake any longer, why don't we go to sleep?" "
The projector wasn't needed for the time being, so Wei Dong put it in the communal locker. He was just about to encourage everyone to hang in there a little longer and try to get through 6:30 before going to sleep when
footsteps suddenly sounded outside the door. The familiar voice of the lamplighter drifted into the room with the footsteps: 'Guests, go to sleep. We can talk about anything when the lights are on—'
These words had a hypnotic power. Wei Dong couldn't help but yawn a few times, drowsily climbed into bed, and fell asleep before 6:30.
Mai Peng was also very sleepy, but the pain in his tonsils made it difficult for him to fall asleep quickly. He was about to get up in the dark to get a drink of water when he suddenly heard his companion Lu Heng say in the darkness: 'Do you think Sheng Nan is still in this world?'
Mai Peng sighed: 'Lu Heng, don't think too much. We watched with our own eyes as Sister Xi's coffin slowly hung outside.'"
Lu Heng fell silent for a long time before slowly speaking again, "In my hometown, during funerals, someone has to carry the coffin. This person is usually the deceased's closest relative or best friend. Actually, I wanted to carry Sheng Nan's coffin today, but I was afraid of breaking this custom, and I lost my courage... I really regret it."
"It's all in the past, Sister Xi won't blame you," Mai Peng said, though very sleepy, she still tried to comfort Lu Heng.
"But she's all alone outside now, in this freezing weather."
Mai Peng thought of the crystal coffin hanging outside the inn, and was momentarily frightened by his words, so she stopped talking.
"Mai Peng, promise me, if something happens to me here, you'll carry my coffin. Promise me," Lu Heng repeated in the darkness.
Mai Peng was somewhat frightened, but mostly distressed: "Okay, I promise you, if anything happens to me, you'll help carry my coffin."
"Okay, it's a deal."
Before falling asleep, Mai Peng wanted to take one last look at the burning incense, but she was so sleepy she felt like she was about to faint, and soon fell into a deep sleep.
This night was exceptionally long and exhausting.
It gave her the illusion that the world had changed drastically.
Du Lingyu struggled to wake up, just like last night, as if she had been pulled back from another world, her entire being undergoing a painful process of being stripped away.
Du Lingyu stared at a familiar corner of the ceiling, her mood not exactly calm, but not as lost and helpless as yesterday morning.
Du Lingyu first turned her head to look at Fang Fei lying beside her, and saw that the other had also just woken up. When Fang Fei's eyes swept over her, they were very unfamiliar, even carrying a somewhat awe-inspiring dignity, making Du Lingyu feel a chill.
A few seconds later, Fang Fei seemed to finally wake up. She looked at Du Lingyu and sat up. "I can't believe it, we actually fell asleep in the same position as in the photo last night."
Du Lingyu also sat up and noticed that some members were still asleep, while others had already gotten up, but most of them were still in the same position.
Originally, Xi Shengnan was on Du Lingyu's other side, but that position was now empty. On Xi Shengnan's other side was Lu Heng, but that position was also empty.
Lu Heng's position was exactly the empty spot in the photo.
"Where's Lu Heng?" Du Lingyu asked subconsciously.
Mai Peng was startled awake by this question and sat up abruptly. "Where's Lu Heng? Where is he?"
Shao Ling's voice came from the wooden table. "Something happened to Lu Heng."
Mai Peng's gaze fell on the wooden table, and she saw that several of the older members were standing around it, while Lu Heng was slumped over it, looking as if he was extremely tired and had fallen asleep.
Just like back in high school evening study sessions, Lu Heng sat at the desk in front of him, and when he got sleepy, he would take a nap on the desk, waking up after a while.
"He...he's asleep?" Mai Peng heard herself ask.
Qin Ci sighed: "Something happened to him. The poison he was given is exactly the same as the one Xi Shengnan was given."